Being an ally comes in many different shapes and sizes, requiring involvement at both the micro and macro levels. Whether it means showing support by demonstrating interest in a cause important to a friend, or personally taking action to further their cause, allies strengthen each other through committed relationships and shared effort.

You have invested months of time – and many thousands of dollars – to reach this point in your outsourcing project. Your scope is defined and you have selected the best service provider in the business. The time has come to let the supplier’s experts loose in your business and watch the savings and efficiencies roll in.

Making the switch to outsourced strategic procurement is not as simple as handing tasks and responsibilities to a third party. It requires wholesale change that starts from within. Someone in procurement needs to lead that change, and it may or may not be the CPO. What procurement needs to do is to find the catalysts in their midst.

A catalyst brings his or her own energy to each situation. If they are effective, they will also infuse others with that energy and rise as natural...